Being that he had so long been a Congressman that he lost all of his ability to make a living doing anything else, Richard Pombo will attempt to return to the only job he was every able to succeed at, being a corrupt congressman.

The National Journal indicates that the official announcement will be tomorrow.

The last I heard, there were no Democrats who had announced, or were even seriously considering a run for this seat.  Someone, please tell me that my source was wrong, since they are not in district.  

Congressman George Radanovich has announced his retirement to better support his wife who is battling cancer.  I wish them the best.

While the seat has been a Republican stronghold, GOP registration has gone from 47.64% five years ago to 43.62% today.  That is a huge decline, but not really enough to attract a top tier Democrat.  It has attracted a great deal of Republican interest because there are so few political jobs to go around.

The latest rumor has to do with Bill Jones, the former Secretary of State and author of the 3 Strikes Law.  He probably has the ability to clear out the Republican Primary, but former Fresno Mayor Jim Patterson seems to like the Tea Party riff and could give it a go even with Jones in the race.  

Although Jones has a statewide stature, he has some major defeats in his past.  He could only manage 16% of the vote and a third place finish in the GOP primary against Bill Simon and Richard Riorden.  He lost to Barbara Boxer by 20 points.  Most Republican activists believe that anyone with a pulse should be able to beat Barbara Boxer (they gravely misunderestimate her) and that could put some doubt into Jones’ candidacy.

Jeff Denham has the support of Radanovich and (as important) David Dreier, but all of that was engineered before the Jones rumors and the apparent interest from former Congressman Richard Pombo.  

Do any of these candidates actually live in the district?  Not that its at all important in a Republican primary in the era of Tom McClintock and Dan Lungren.  Regardless, it could be one of the major primary shootouts in the nation.  

(Understanding their problems can help keep us from repeating their mistakes – promoted by blogswarm)

One can reasonably argue that the downfall of the California Republican Party began in the early 1990’s.  At that time, the California Republican Assembly was putting together a concerted strategy to gain control of each and every Republican Central Committee, and thus of the internal power structure of the California Republican Party.  From that base, they were able to determine who would run in local elections, who had the name recognition to win State Assembly races, etc.

Along with that organization came the ability to activate the most conservative, most idealogical, most enthusiastic members of the party and get them to the polls to win almost all state-wide primaries. The results have been self-destructive.

The most recent Republican Convention introduced a possible change in the political structure as Contra Costa County Party Chairman, Thomas Del Becarro was selected as the Vice-Chairman of the party.  The old guard, Republican Central Committee controllers, like Richard Pombo, tried to defeat Del Becarro, but were not successful. Remember, Del Becarro is the one who filed a lawsuit to prevent Jerry Brown from taking office as Attorney General on the grounds that he was “not qualified” according to a strict reading of the law.

We now have an increasingly polarized environment in Sacramento, played out daily in the press. A 2006 report released by the Public Policy Institute of California documents the fact that the California electorate is increasingly disassociated from either major party.

What is the lesson to be learned from this?  What have the parties of the “left” (Democrats and Greens) not produced gains equivalent to the losses on the Right?

Equally important, if the electorate is going to remain disassociated from the major parties, will we continue to be governed by those who, like Schwarzenegger, have managed to position themselves as being outside of either? 

I have a lot more questions than answers.

(I had the pleasure of helping out Nick and Neil on the Brown campaign. They were greatly affected by what they learned about the Marianas and hopefully can draw greater attention to the atrocities. – promoted by juls)

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) has been a sore issue with certain politicians in Washington. Political leaders such as Tom DeLay, John Doolittle, Richard Pombo, Conrad Burns, Ralph Reed and even President George W. Bush have been linked to the scandals involving Jack Abramoff and the horrific human rights abuses on these tiny Pacific Islands under US supervision. As concerned citizens who first learned about the Marianas while working as staffers on the Charlie brown for Congress campaign, Nick Shepard and myself (Neil Pople) decided to create a non-profit group that would address the issues our elected officials and political leaders seem unwilling and unable to tackle…

More below the fold…

Calling ourselves “Ripples of Hope” after an amazing 1966 Robert F. Kennedy speech in Cape Town, South Africa (http://www.americanr….), we hope to affect change in the world, one issue at a time, causing ripples of hope to the disenfranchised people who live on American soil. Our first in what we hope to be many projects spanning the globe, we decided to tackle the egregious human rights and labor abuses going on in the Mariana Islands. These three tiny islands just miles from Guam, are composed of Saipan, Tinia and Rota. While the islands themselves rival Fiji and Maui in their natural beauty, there is a dark and ugly side that needs to be discussed.

As a Commonwealth of the United States of America, the islands are under the sovereignty of this country. US Federal laws apply to the CNMI, with the following exceptions:

• The CNMI is not within the customs territory of the US
• Federal minimum wage provisions do not apply
• Federal immigration laws do not apply
• The CNMI can establish its own tax laws
• The Jones Act, requiring goods shipped between US ports to be carried on US- registered ships, does not apply to the CNMI [1]
The 1995 CNMI Census data showed that 53% of the population are not American citizens. Non-residents are precluded by law from certain occupations and are largely working in the tourist, garment, construction and domestic service industries [2]. The CNMI is advertised as a place for foreign workers to come for “good American jobs.” They came to pursue the American dream, but what they unwittingly walked into was a labor nightmare, complete with shadow contracts that set extremely strict guidelines that limit the personal freedoms of the workers. The immigration laws on the Marianas do not comply with US law. In addition, these laws allow uncontrolled immigration to American soil (a serious security threat) and at a direct economic benefit to Communist China, which owns many of the garment factories, casinos and sex shops on CNMI.

The garment industry itself has been dominated by Chinese manufacturers employed by such major designers as Polo-Ralph Lauren, GAP, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein. These companies enjoy the fact that, as a US Territory, the Mariana sweatshops get to sew “Made in the USA” on the labels of Chinese-manufactured clothing brought in duty-free to the islands. 

Garment workers on the Marianas often aren’t paid at all, work 16-20 hour days, are forced to pay huge “recruitment fees” to foreign recruiters, live in squalid housing, are malnourished, forced by employment contracts to have abortions if they become pregnant, and fired if they attend church. Many do not even have promised jobs waiting for them when they get to the islands, and are forced by their recruiters to be a part of the islands’ growing sex trade, or face being sent back to their home country… penniless and in violation of legal contracts that could force them to see jail time.

A 1999 Department of the Interior report described that the federal government was well aware of the human rights abuses, immigration policies and minimum wage violations:

“Even though the (Federal-CNMI Initiative on Labor, Immigration and Law Enforcement) Initiative has provided increased resources to address the problems, the Administration finds that the government of the CNMI is unwilling to alter its basic immigration, minimum wage, and garment manufacturing policies, and that there are  fundamental weaknesses in CNMI law enforcement [3].”

Despite this report, the House of Representatives failed to take action, and bills proposed by Congressman George Miller and Senators Frank Murkowski and Daniel Akaka were killed in committee over 29 times in the last decade. Progress and basic human rights have been denied the immigrant workers virtually enslaved on the Marianas. There is a time to sit back and there is a time to take action. Now is the time to take action.

Please take a look at the links to the following websites. They will prove useful in your basic understanding of the desperate situation in Saipan. We all need to get educated on this issue if we expect to make ripples…

http://www.msmagazin….
http://www.hartford-….
http://www.house.gov….
http://www.americama….
http://akaka.senate…..
http://www.pacificis….
http://www.truthout…..
http://www.pacificis…

These are but a very small sampling of the diverse groups and individuals working on stopping the abuses on the Marianas. With your help writing your Congress and pledging support for Ripples of Hope, we can “build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

Thank you for your time and efforts,

Neil Pople and Nick Shepard
Founders, Ripples of Hope

PS- If you are interested in pledging support for our cause, please feel free to email us at [email protected].

[1] U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Insular Affairs: A Report on the State of the Islands, 1999 page 25
[2] U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Insular Affairs: A Report on the State of the Islands, 1999 page 26
[3] U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Insular Affairs: A Report on the State of the Islands, 1999 page 6

(So, it turns out that UNITE HERE represents many workers in the gaming industry. Many of them, are at indian casinos, which fall under Pombo’s House Resources Cmte. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

A friend brought this to my attention late last week…I’ve been checking it out and still can’t believe it’s true.

No specific date is listed…but there it is, in black and white, documentation that UNITE HERE — a union representing workers in the apparel, retail, laundry, hotels & other sectors — donated $10,000 to Republican Richard Pombo last quarter, but precisely zero to Jerry McNerney.  What the F?

This really, really, really pisses me off.  I’ve been scratching and saving, and just gave another hundred bucks to Jerry last week. Many of my friends are doing the same.  I’ve supported UNITE HERE in the past, most notably with their latest strike and boycott of the Multi-Employer Group (MEG) hotels here in San Francisco (which recently concluded sucessfully with a contract).  I thought UNITE HERE was also on our side — but I guess not.  Seems like they took regular workers’ money — and, by giving that $$$ to a republican, neutralized the contributions of me and 99 other people who’ve given a C-note to Jerry. 

So, UNITE HERE, next time you want support for your striking workers, go ask your good buddy Dick Pombo if HE will walk with you.  Because I sure as hell won’t.  If you’re going to give $10K to one of our — Democrats’ and environmentalists’ — worst enemies, there’s NO WAY I’m going to support you.

There’s ONE way, in my book, that UNITE HERE can make good on this huge mistake — and that’s to give $5K to McNerney right away.  It’s looking more and more likely that Democrats will win back control of the House — so that’s definitely in their self interest. 

So, if you have a moment, why not drop a note to Tom Snyder, their contact for political affairs, and ask him to donate $5,000 to McNerney (the maximum allowable) to even things out?  (Tom Snyder’s email address is posted publicly here.)

And please — let me know what YOUR experiences have been with UNITE HERE.  Is this aberrant behavior? Have they donated to Republicans in your area?  Have they ever asked for your help?  Do you have any contacts there (in locals and/or national) that you could politely inquire as to WTF they are doing giving $10K to a rethuglican, and nothing at all to a pro-union candidate like Jerry McNerney?  Anyone out there from UNITE HERE want to defend this contribution?

(Digging deeper…it’s been mentioned that as Chairman of the House Resources Commmittee, Pombo would be in a unique position to allow unionization of workers in some of the new casinos being built on tribal lands. 

Maybe…but a) since when have Republicans, especially one like Richard Pombo, ever been in favor of unionizing anything, and b) if it’s both-sides self-interest contributions, why did they only give $3K to the ranking Democrat on the Resources Committee, Nick Rahall?

(cross-posted from Daily Kos)

(Poor Pombo, people don’t like him, and we dare to organize against him – promoted by SFBrianCL)

In a recent comment printed in the Manteca Bulletin, Congressman Richard Pombo (CA 11) gives blogs high praise by singling out their effectiveness.  Speaking of the Defenders of Wildlife, he said:

The group has a full-time office in Pleasanton with a full-time staff, Pombo said. They have drawn their activist workers from personal website blogs in the Bay area. They send them into the neighborhoods campaigning against him in his congressional district, he said.

“It’s a full-blown campaign,” he pointed out. “I don’t think there has ever been anything to this extent before.”

Just recently the campaign group had some six buses pick up the Bay Area activists they had searched out from San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley taking them to district neighborhoods for door-to-door contact.

When Pombo was home in the district during the months of August and September, the group showed up at every event he attended with their signs charging him with corruption, he said.

Those blogs are PomboWatch  and SayNoToPombo. The effectiveness of getting feet on the streets is one thing that the Internet does as as well as it helps raise money.